In Redhorn's village a woman could be heard singing in the distance:

Redhorn, come here!
Redhorn, whom they say is holy,
Come here!

Redhorn's youngest son said, "Older brother, go after her!" But Redhorn objected: "What are you saying? This woman used to call me long ago before you were born, but I would have nothing to do with her." However, the eldest son asked Redhorn four times if he could go to her, and on the fourth request, Redhorn consented. He dressed in courting finery, and set out for the woman's lodge. He came to a bridge on the other side of which he could see an oval lodge. The bridge was made of iron and at places it was so narrow that it would be hard to get through. He then turned himself into an old man and made his clothes look equally ancient. Then he called out from the river's edge, "You red-bellied leeches, come here!" and immediately a hoard of leeches appeared before him. From these he selected two big ones and tied them to his feet, then wearing these strange living moccasins he walked across the iron bridge. The woman who called Redhorn was sitting on a platform on the other bank wearing a red cloth wrap. When she saw that it was an old man coming across, she said, "Stop where you are, I didn't call you, I called Redhorn!" "Exactly," he replied, "and I am coming, princess." She jumped down, grabbed her end of the bridge, shook it and turned it upside down, but he still kept coming on, so she screamed and ran away. The bystanders said, "She has been calling for Redhorn, but surely this old man is not Redhorn." But one of them noted, "When he passed by he had a smell of holiness to him, and Redhorn they say is holy."

The "old man" went into the chief's lodge and said, "I am here to answer your sister's call." Now the understanding which she had with her family was that whoever came in answer to her call would be the one she married, no matter who he was. Her brother directed him to the area behind the partition. As he entered, she gave him such a kick that he flew out and landed on his back. "Go on back in, brother-in-law," the young man said, "she is not serious about rejecting you." Nevertheless, four times he tried to enter and four times she kicked him out. Finally the suitor sat down to fill his pipe, and called to her brother, "I might as well go home, since she is trying to kill me." But the brother noticed a marked change in the suitor's voice, and when he looked over there he saw Redhorn himself. Then his sister stuck her head out and was quite surprised at the sight. She said, "There is my husband," but he was already walking towards home.

She started to go after him, but her brother pulled her inside, then blocked the door. Redhorn crossed back over the iron bridge at a run and stopped by the grandmother's lodge on the other side. "Grandmother, I am going to take a different route home. Put the lodge pole back when I am done." So he lifted up the lodge pole, and crawled into the hole, after which grandmother put back the pole. Then the princess came running up and asked, "Where is my husband?" Grandmother replied, "I don't know." But the woman saw his tracks which led to the lodge pole, so she pulled it up and crawled into the hole herself. she carefully followed his tracks underground. Redhorn had by now gotten home, and told his brother what had happened, and how his advice had almost gotten him killed. "When she gets here," said the younger brother, "we'll give her some of her own treatment." Old Redhorn went outside his lodge and standing there before him was a naked woman -- the princess in her reckless pursuit had lost all of her clothes. So Redhorn went back in and ordered clothes to be sent out to her. When she got the new clothes on, she went into the lodge. They directed her to the partitioned room, but when she entered, the younger brother barked, "Get out!" Both brothers gave her a good kick and she almost landed in the fire. Old Redhorn said, "Go back in daughter-in-law, he is not serious about rejecting you." Four times she tried to enter, but four time they kicked her back. Finally it was the younger brother who was designated to marry her, since he had in effect sent for her. Later the older brother married as well, but he had no children, since he was so holy.

All the spirit beings who had helped Redhorn now returned to their natural condition: Wolf and Otter assumed their animal forms, and Storms as He Walks had already rejoined the Thunders, after he left the Thunderbird Warbundle behind on earth to be used by the humans in war. [1]

Commentary. "he still kept coming on" -- she could not shake him off the bridge because he is attached to it by leeches, and leeches cannot be shaken off by anyone to whom they attach themselves (personal experience).

Comparative Material. There is an intergenerational identity that occurs in Redhorn myths that may be like that of Demeter and Kore (Persephone) in Greek mythology. The story "Redhorn's Father," says that Redhorn is the son of He who has Human Heads as Earrings, which is just another name for Redhorn.

Links: Redhorn, Sons of Redhorn, The Sons of Earthmaker, Turtle, Wolf, Otters, Storms as He Walks, Thunderbirds, Yûgiwi.

Links within the Redhorn Cycle: §6 The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons.

Stories: featuring the sons of Redhorn as characters: The Redhorn Cycle, Redhorn's Sons, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Redhorn's Father; mentioning Redhorn: The Redhorn Cycle, Redhorn's Sons, The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Redhorn's Father, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Spirit of Gambling, The Green Man, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, cp. The Cosmic Ages of the Hotcâgara; in which leeches occur: in which leeches occur: The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, The Two Brothers (blood-suckers).

Themes: crossing a river by summoning the aid of water creatures: Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads (crabs); in the course of his travels, a man enters a lodge where he finds a grandmother who helps him: Ocean Duck, Warughápara, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Soils the Princess, Wodjidjé; crossing a body of water on the back of an animal: Ocean Duck (Waterspirit), Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads (crabs), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (beaver), The Hotcâk Migration Myth (turtle), cf. The Shaggy Man (bearskin bladders); description of a courtship outfit: Redhorn's Father, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Soils the Princess, The Dipper, The Mulberry Picker; red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Herok'a (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feathers on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazûka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), The Brown Squirrel (protruding horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (eyes), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Red Feather (plumage), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Mulberry Picker (leggings), Yûgiwi (blanket); a woman not only rejects a suitor, but kicks him: Îtcorúcika and His Brothers; (removing a tent pole and) entering another world through a hole in the ground: Îtcohorucika and His Brothers, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Redhorn's Sons, Iron Staff and His Companions; people chase one another underground: Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Redhorn's Sons, Iron Staff and His Companions; a woman takes the initiative in courtship: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, Old Man and White Feathers, (see also, Redhorn's Father); marriage to a yûgiwi (princess): The Mulberry Picker, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Big Stone, Partridge's Older Brother, Redhorn's Sons, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, The Roaster, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Two Boys, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Shaggy Man, The Thunderbird, The Red Feather, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Birth of the Twins, V. 3, Trickster Visits His Family, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, Redhorn's Father, Old Man and White Feathers, Morning Star and His Friend, Thunderbird and White Horse, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Shakes the Earth, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga; a hero wins a girl but decides to let one of his brothers marry her: The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Raccoon Coat.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles: A Study in Aboriginal Literature (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1948) 134-136.